Pokemon Sun and Moon: The Novelty

I’m not going to talk about how the last two generations of Pokémon games have copied some of Digimon’s best moves. To be entirely honest – even though I prefer Digimon – the series, featuring digital monsters, copied Pokémon first. However, I will say this, the last two Pokémon games have found life in adding gameplay elements that we could only dream of on the playground. It’s the novelty of Sun and Moon that is winning new and old fans alike.

Winning on Concept Alone and Making it Work

As Pokémon evolved over the years, it mostly relied on new pocket monsters to sell its games – with a few minor tweaks like dual battles and online functionality. However, it wasn’t until X and Y that the series began to implement those “What If” ideas like fairy types, and mega evolutions.

And even though Sun and Moon have yet to release, its newest features – the simple addition of z moves, Alola forms, and trails – is already making the series feel new again. While not all of this generation’s pokémon are my favorites, the concept alone is keeping me interested.

The new demo has left a great impression.

Pokémon Sun and Moon Impressions

The feeling of something new carries over into the Pokémon Sun and Moon demo. The one thing that the series does well is to execute a concept. The Alola setting feels like no other region before it, and the brief introduction into trails and z moves is exciting.

Trails have left the greatest impression on me, from what I’ve played of the demo. It looks to change up the gym formula for new and old fans. If each and every trail is as unique than the last, then it just might win me over more than capturing the new Alola forms.

So far my only gripe is that the game seems to run a bit sluggish when in battle mode. This might be because I using my 3DS XL. Hopefully, the framerate issues are fixed before release. Despite the pokémon leaks, I’m pretty sure this new generation has a few surprises. And with the Nintendo Switch revealed today, hopefully, we will see a port.